SC2020 – World Edge Pollen Prion

With the eagerness to discover new Fusion Reactor Cores, it might seem strange that it was not until recently that the World Edge Mountains were finally traversed. This is simply due to a unique property of these mountains. In the creation of these mountains a strange mineral was brought near the surface. This mineral in itself is not dangerous to humans, but in the World Edge Mountain a particular kind of “moss” grows near these mineral vains. The pollen from this moss incorporate this mineral and in that particular combination it works as a prion that targets heme hemoglobin. That means that once pollen gets in the blood it will slowly transform all the hemoglobin and thus all the red blood cells until a blood clot is formed and the infected person die. Therefore, until recently practically all people who went into the World Edge Mountains never returned. The few who did return spoke in horror of how their remaining party fell sick and died. The strange thing was that no foreign element could be detected in the survivors – some of them were even imprisoned or executed as murderers, and almost all survivors ended dying at a young age themselves. Eventually it was discovered that all survivors suffered from sickle cell disease. Once this was established the idea of a blood related disease quickly came about and eventually the pollen prions were discovered. This discovery was kept quiet by the Great City that found this out, as they tried to develop it into a biological weapon, they could unleash, should the need arise. However, through the Black Hand, the City Senate got news of the pollen and a research team was put together with the official goal of making a cure for traversing of the World Edge mountains. It was quickly found that regular blood thinning medicine helped, and a blood transfusion could then cure the patient. Later anti-body pills were developed that you would take preemptively and these would attach themselves to any pollen prions or already misshapen hemoglobin. This method when taken preemptively also nullified the effect of the pollen prion so that hardly any adverse effects were felt. It could also be used after recent exposure, to stop further spread of the misfolding. However when doing this, the treatment also includes blood thinning medicine to reduce the risk of any already misshapen hemoglobin developing into clots. With this treatment in hand the bright siders are ready to travers the world edge mountains.

Type

Prion